11.17.2008

bbc host fired for demanding non-asian cab driver

Some news out of the U.K.... A BBC radio presenter was recently fired after making offensive remarks about South Asian taxi drivers. Sam Mason, former host of the BBC Radio Bristol afternoon show, asked a cab firm not to send an Asian driver to pick up her daughter because "a guy with a turban on is going to freak her out": BBC fire presenter Sam Mason after she demands non-Asian taxi driver.

Unfortunately for Mason, a phone operator recorded the conversation and passed a copy of it to The Sun. Here's a transcript of the conversation, which can be listened to on The Sun website:

Mason: "I know this sounds really racist, but I'm not being - please, don't send anyone like, you know what I mean. An English person would be great, a female would be better."

Operator: "We would class that as being racist. We can't penalise the Asian drivers and just send an English one."

Mason: "If it were me I wouldn't care if it had two heads, but it's my little girl we are talking about."

After asking the woman on the phone to pass the call on to a supervisor, she finally adds: "I work at the BBC. I'm far from racist and that uneducated woman has no right to call me one.

"I don't want her to turn up with a guy with a turban on, it's going to freak her out. She's not used to Asians.

"She's not racist - her godparents are black."

Experience has taught me that in general, whenever someone says, "I know this sounds really racist..." or "I'm not racist, but..." whatever follows usually is indeed racist. It's all there in the conversation. She's kind of an idiot, isn't she? Reading this transcript, it's kind of pathetic to see the deep, dark hole that Mason digs for herself. Glad to see that the BBC had the good sense to give her what she deserved. That's racist!